Hey everyone!
So I gave the Recommended Routine a spin for 3 months and I am here to report my results! I’m 6’0. I weighed 172lbs and had a 33inch waist at the start of the program. I had gained a little bit of winter padding so I wasn’t fat, just a bit soft.
Final Strength tests start at 5:39
I’ll write it out for those of you who prefer reading:
My main goals were to (in order)
1) Trim the fat & regain my abs
2) Gain strength
I did so by eating at a 500 calorie deficit 5-6 days out of the week and eating at maintenance 1-2 days. It came out to around 2000 calories on my deficit days and ~2500 for maintenance.
I used the 0.8g of protein per pound rule, so I aimed to eat at least 137g of protein each day. Didn’t really track carbs and fats but I tried to keep it balanced.
I chose the following exercises for my progressions:
Pull Up: Weighted Pull Ups (Starting at 53lbs x 5 reps)
Squat: Pistol Squat (Starting at bodyweight x 5 reps)
Dip: Weighted Ring Dip (Starting at 44lbs x 5 reps)
Hinge: Barbell Hip Thrust (Starting at 135lbs x 8 reps)
Row: Tuck Front Lever (Starting at 20s)
Push Up: One Arm Push Up (Starting at 8 assisted reps each side)
Anti-Extension: Ab Wheel
Anti-Rotation: Pallof Press
Extension: Reverse Hyperextension
You might have noticed that I took a few creative liberties with the progressions (hip thrust and one arm push up). That’s because I’m not a beginner and I wanted to work on those exercises in particular.
I did the program as written for the first few weeks.
I quickly noticed that 90s was not enough for me to really push hard during the strength exercises. But I also noticed that increasing all the rest times to 3 minutes made the workout a little too long for my liking.
So I made some changes:
I would take 3 minute rests for the first strength pair. That way I would be fresh and really able to push the envelope. The 2nd and 3rd strength pairs I kept the 90s rest and did whatever I could with the energy I had left.
And because I would be fresh for the first pair, I made sure to rotate the exercises throughout the week so I was fresh for each of them once a week. Pull-ups/Squats on Monday. Dips/Hinge on Weds. Row/Push Up on Fri.
This change allowed me to gain a significant amount of strength. I was basically going up in weights or reps every week. It also made the workout not take as long as I was happy about that as well.
Unfortunately tho, I was still pretty tired by the time I got to the core triplet each workout and didn’t have much juice left. As a result of that, I pretty much just went through the motions and didn’t progress as much on those exercises. Oh well.
About 8 weeks in, I decided to do a check-in.
I noticed that I was 8lbs lighter at 164 and my waist went down to 31.5 inches. So I basically lost a pound a week during the first 2 months. I regained my abs and decided that was enough cutting so I brought my calories back up to maintenance levels for the final month of the program.
Eating at maintenance felt much better than being at a deficit. I was less tired during and after the workouts. I continued to make progress for the remainder of the program, hitting a PR pretty much every week.
My final strength tests were as follows:
Weighted Pull Up: 82.5lbs x 5 reps & 123lbs for 1 rep
Pistol: 35lb 1 rep max on the left, 53lb 1 rep max on the right
Weighted Ring Dip: 72.5lbs x 5 reps
Hip Thrust: 275 x 15 reps (could have gone more but didn’t really test it)
Front Lever: One Leg Front Lever x~10s
One Arm Push Up: 5 reps one arm push ups on the left. 1 rep one arm one leg push up on the left. 5 reps one arm one leg push-ups on the right.
Here are my before and after pics:
So there you have it! That was my journey on the RR!
What have your experiences been like on the program? I personally found it to be an excellent program.
My only critique is that it seems really high volume. I mean, there are 27 total sets! There is no way I would have been able to do that if I was an actual beginner and I struggled with the volume even as an intermediate.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
So I gave the Recommended Routine a spin for 3 months and I am here to report my results! I’m 6’0. I weighed 172lbs and had a 33inch waist at the start of the program. I had gained a little bit of winter padding so I wasn’t fat, just a bit soft.
I compiled the video footage and talk about my entire journey here:
Final Strength tests start at 5:39
I’ll write it out for those of you who prefer reading:
My main goals were to (in order)
1) Trim the fat & regain my abs
2) Gain strength
I did so by eating at a 500 calorie deficit 5-6 days out of the week and eating at maintenance 1-2 days. It came out to around 2000 calories on my deficit days and ~2500 for maintenance.
I used the 0.8g of protein per pound rule, so I aimed to eat at least 137g of protein each day. Didn’t really track carbs and fats but I tried to keep it balanced.
I chose the following exercises for my progressions:
Pull Up: Weighted Pull Ups (Starting at 53lbs x 5 reps)
Squat: Pistol Squat (Starting at bodyweight x 5 reps)
Dip: Weighted Ring Dip (Starting at 44lbs x 5 reps)
Hinge: Barbell Hip Thrust (Starting at 135lbs x 8 reps)
Row: Tuck Front Lever (Starting at 20s)
Push Up: One Arm Push Up (Starting at 8 assisted reps each side)
Anti-Extension: Ab Wheel
Anti-Rotation: Pallof Press
Extension: Reverse Hyperextension
You might have noticed that I took a few creative liberties with the progressions (hip thrust and one arm push up). That’s because I’m not a beginner and I wanted to work on those exercises in particular.
I did the program as written for the first few weeks.
I quickly noticed that 90s was not enough for me to really push hard during the strength exercises. But I also noticed that increasing all the rest times to 3 minutes made the workout a little too long for my liking.
So I made some changes:
I would take 3 minute rests for the first strength pair. That way I would be fresh and really able to push the envelope. The 2nd and 3rd strength pairs I kept the 90s rest and did whatever I could with the energy I had left.
And because I would be fresh for the first pair, I made sure to rotate the exercises throughout the week so I was fresh for each of them once a week. Pull-ups/Squats on Monday. Dips/Hinge on Weds. Row/Push Up on Fri.
This change allowed me to gain a significant amount of strength. I was basically going up in weights or reps every week. It also made the workout not take as long as I was happy about that as well.
Unfortunately tho, I was still pretty tired by the time I got to the core triplet each workout and didn’t have much juice left. As a result of that, I pretty much just went through the motions and didn’t progress as much on those exercises. Oh well.
About 8 weeks in, I decided to do a check-in.
I noticed that I was 8lbs lighter at 164 and my waist went down to 31.5 inches. So I basically lost a pound a week during the first 2 months. I regained my abs and decided that was enough cutting so I brought my calories back up to maintenance levels for the final month of the program.
Eating at maintenance felt much better than being at a deficit. I was less tired during and after the workouts. I continued to make progress for the remainder of the program, hitting a PR pretty much every week.
My final strength tests were as follows:
Weighted Pull Up: 82.5lbs x 5 reps & 123lbs for 1 rep
Pistol: 35lb 1 rep max on the left, 53lb 1 rep max on the right
Weighted Ring Dip: 72.5lbs x 5 reps
Hip Thrust: 275 x 15 reps (could have gone more but didn’t really test it)
Front Lever: One Leg Front Lever x~10s
One Arm Push Up: 5 reps one arm push ups on the left. 1 rep one arm one leg push up on the left. 5 reps one arm one leg push-ups on the right.
Here are my before and after pics:
So there you have it! That was my journey on the RR!
What have your experiences been like on the program? I personally found it to be an excellent program.
My only critique is that it seems really high volume. I mean, there are 27 total sets! There is no way I would have been able to do that if I was an actual beginner and I struggled with the volume even as an intermediate.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
